Today at 07:30, 2 petrol stations were shut down in Edinburgh. The first was a BP station on Calder Road, and the second was a Shell station on Comiston Road. All pumps were put out of action with bike locks, and oil spills at the forecourt entrances meant no more business as usual for a while.
The oil industry, like the G8 is the epitome of capitalism and it's ills. It places wealth and power in the hands of the few at massive expense to this planet's environment and peoples.
Oil exploration and production destroys wilderness and maims ecosystems. 10,000's of tonnes of oil are routinely dumped in rivers and oceans, poisoning aquatic life and water supplies.
In the U.K. alone, 24,000 people die prematurely each year from emissions from vehicles and refineries, and many more are killed or crippled on the roads.
Against this background, the vested interests of the oil industry fund academics to hide the causal link between greenhouse gases emissions from burning fossil fuels and spiralling climate change. Global temperatures are the highest in 2,000 years - we are facing an environmental meltdown crisis.
No amount of corporate PR exercises can hide how the oil industry helps make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Most of the top 20 petroleum corporations are based in G8 countries, with a revolving door of top jobs between their governments and the industry. These corporations set the global agenda, reaping massive profits as the majority world are crushed by poverty characterised by a lack of clean water, food, health care and education.
Workers in the oil industry suffer long arduous hours in dangerous condition, for poor pay. Easily preventable accidents are common. Attempts to unionise and organise for better conditions are met with intimidation, sackings and violence.
Oil multinationals literally call the shots, as they routinely back ruthless dictatorships across the world, from Sudan to Columbia, Angola to Indonesia. The death squads do their dirty work. Hand in glove with the ruling elites, they make sure that nothing stands in the way of their pipelines and profits. Should oil producing regimes not toe the line or comply with corporate interests, invasion is always an option, with the military might of the U.S. and U.K. as the enforcers.Tens of thousands were killed in Iraq to secure access to the world's second largest oil reserves.
For all the G8's talk of cancelling debt and promoting "development" (ha ha ha!), the existence of the oil industry and the capitalism which it drives condemns millions to hellish lives and is pushing life on earth to the brink of environmental and social catastrophe. Everything it touches dies. The G8, the oil industry and capitalism cannot be reformed. They must be dismantled and destroyed if there is to be any hope of a better world. This is why we take direct action, to dent their profits and to oppose their world of power and profit. The power and the odds against us are enormous, but we can never give up. Fight for a new world in any way you can.The oil industry is the epitome of capitalism and it's ills. It places wealth and power in the hands of the few at massive expense to this planet's environment and peoples.
Oil exploration and production destroys wilderness and maims ecosystems. 10,000's of tonnes of oil are routinely dumped in rivers and oceans, poisoning aquatic life and water supplies.
In the U.K. alone, 24,000 people die prematurely each year from emissions from vehicles and refineries, and many more are killed or crippled on the roads.
Against this background, the vested interests of the oil industry fund academics to hide the causal link between greenhouse gases emissions from burning fossil fuels and spiralling climate change. Global temperatures are the highest in 2,000 years - we are facing an environmental meltdown crisis.
No amount of corporate PR exercises can hide how the oil industry helps make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Most of the top 20 petroleum corporations are based in G8 countries, with a revolving door of top jobs between their governments and the industry. These corporations set the global agenda, reaping massive profits as the majority world are crushed by poverty characterised by a lack of clean water, food, health care and education.
Workers in the oil industry suffer long arduous hours in dangerous condition, for poor pay. Easily preventable accidents are common. Attempts to unionise and organise for better conditions are met with intimidation, sackings and violence.
Oil multinationals literally call the shots, as they routinely back ruthless dictatorships across the world, from Sudan to Columbia, Angola to Indonesia. The death squads do their dirty work. Hand in glove with the ruling elites, they make sure that nothing stands in the way of their pipelines and profits. Should oil producing regimes not toe the line or comply with corporate interests, invasion is always an option, with the military might of the U.S. and U.K. as the enforcers.Tens of thousands were killed in Iraq to secure access to the world's second largest oil reserves.
For all the G8's talk of cancelling debt and promoting "development" (ha ha ha!), the existence of the oil industry and the capitalism which it drives condemns millions to hellish lives and is pushing life on earth to the brink of environmental and social catastrophe. Everything it touches dies. The G8, the oil industry and capitalism cannot be reformed. They must be dismantled and destroyed if there is to be any hope of a better world. This is why we take direct action, to dent their profits and to oppose their world of power and profit. The power and the odds against us are enormous, but we can never give up. Fight for a new world in any way you can. See you on the streets...